SCS Alumnus Harry Shum Elected to NAE

By Byron Spice Thursday, February 9, 2017

Harry Shum

Harry Shum, executive vice president of Microsoft’s Artificial Intelligence and Research group, has been elected as a foreign member of the prestigious National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Shum, who was born in China, earned a Ph.D. in robotics at Carnegie Mellon in 1996.

Sridhar Tayur, a professor in the Tepper School of Business who specializes in optimizing supply chain systems, also is among the 84 new members and 22 foreign members announced by the NAE Feb. 8.

Shum was recognized by the NAE "for contributions to computer vision and computer graphics, and for leadership in industrial research and product development."

In his current position, Shum is responsible for driving Microsoft's overall AI strategy and forward-looking research and development efforts spanning infrastructure, services, apps and agents. He oversees AI-focused product groups — the Information Platform Group, Bing and Cortana product groups — and the Ambient Computing and Robotics teams. He also leads Microsoft Research, one of the world's premier computer science research organizations, and its integration with engineering teams across the company.

Shum joined Microsoft Research in 1996 as a researcher in its vision technology group in Redmond, Wash. In 1998, he moved to Beijing as one of the founding members of what would come to be known as Microsoft Research Asia, overseeing its research activities and the lab's collaborations with universities in the Asia Pacific region.

From 2007 to 2013, Shum served as the corporate vice president responsible for Bing search product development.

Election to the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to "engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature" and to "the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/ implementing innovative approaches to engineering education."

Individuals in the newly elected class will be formally inducted during a ceremony at the NAE's annual meeting in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 8, 2017.